Why should I care if it is Android or Symbian or….

When a common man wants to buy a mobile phone does he look for its operating system or its functions, applications and aspiration value (if there is any). I guess in most cases its the later. Then why all of a sudden there is so much noise about Android.

These are few viewpoints.

When you buy iPhone, most of the time users don’t know and don’t care about what operating system it is running. In fact operating system has never been a consideration for common man to buy the mobile phone. It was always functionality and applications it was running and in case of handsets like iPhone it was about hype, curiosity, aspirational value in addition to above things.

So the question is, is Google trying to change the dynamics of marketing and messaging? Is it trying to make “Android” a brand that consumers would understand? So that it would create differentiation in the market over iPhone? If Google wants to create a brand in the mobile phone industry, then why not Google itself as a brand? “gPhone”? “GooglePhone”?.

Google is very smart about not just marketing but also about creating communities and embracing collaboration to grow the business. Google understands that “Google” Vs “iPhone” is a long drawn battle with outcome hard to predict. Also it may divert Google’s attention from its core business. And mobile phone per se is not its end objective. It wants to control the platform through which consumers are connecting to internet. Android is such platform. Phones and smart devices are increasingly going to be the important modes of connecting to internet. Hence it is collaborating with players like LG and Motorola to bring Android based phones and you can call them smart devices as well. It is encouraging more players to use Android platform so that the combined effect is much more powerful than just Google’s efforts.

Then why Nexus? Is it competing against its own partners? Its not about selling phone, it is about putting Google’s might directly behind Android, create more awareness. Consumes are likely to take note of Android because Google is behind “Nexus”. As this brand (Android) establishes, it helps all the players, it helps them to sell more phones. Google may or may not remain in handset game for ever. It may sell its brand “Nexus” to HTC and make good money. It would go back to strengthening the platforms for the devices for internet access. And it would continue to embrace collaboration as its growth engine.